


In New York you can be a new man

by Immortal_Dreams



Series: Runes don't make a man [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Deruned Alec Lightwood, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Married Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Season/Series 01, Teacher Alec Lightwood, really just a tiny bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28926114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immortal_Dreams/pseuds/Immortal_Dreams
Summary: Years after being deruned and meeting (and consequently falling in love with) Magnus Bane, Alec's life is going great. So of course, things go wrong.OR a reunion between siblings.
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Isabelle Lightwood, Alec Lightwood & Jace Wayland, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Runes don't make a man [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121510
Comments: 6
Kudos: 190





	In New York you can be a new man

**Author's Note:**

> The beginning of this is really summary-like and I might eventually write out those few years, but this part was done and I really wanted to post it, sooo....

They actually talk about things later that day and when Magnus suggests they try dating, Alec can’t nod fast enough. So they go on a few dates. And then a few more. And suddenly, Alec knows all of Magnus’ friends and by the time they remember they were going to get him a flat of his own, Magnus confesses that he’d like Alec to keep living with him. Going on dates has long ago turned into being boyfriends and liking Magnus has turned into Alec being hopelessly in love with him. When Alec figures out what he wants to do with his life now—going to college and becoming a teacher—Magnus is there with him every step of the way. He helps him forge a high school diploma and catches him up on all the material he never learned because he didn’t go to high school. And when Alec gets into NYU, Magnus kisses him and tells him he loves him. And Alec completely forgets being stunned as he says it back and pulls his boyfriend into a hug.

Alec loves university. He loves the freedom and the community and the fact that everyone seems to be so open. Magnus gave him a rainbow bracelet he’s been wearing every single day and so far all he has gotten is over twenty different people telling him they love it and asking where he got it. He’s never felt so at home anywhere but in Magnus’ loft. And the studying is going well, too. Alec has almost no problems keeping up with his class schedule. Maybe that comes from the years of basically organising every single thing going on at the institute. Whatever the reason, he keeps getting really good grades and is on his way to getting his teaching degree with honours in basically everything you can get. He even manages to get some friends of his own when he shows up at one of the GSA meetings. That’s not even on purpose. He’s just looking for a quiet room to study in between his classes and stumbles right into the meeting. But, well, he enjoys it there, so he stays.

So, a few years after meeting Magnus, Alec graduates, already having a job offer to start at a local high school a few months later. And then the most amazing thing happens. At the party hosted by Alec’s friends to celebrate their graduation, Magnus gets down on one knee and asks Alec to marry him. That night ends in happy tears and Alec not being able to do anything but stare at his new ring or kiss his fiance. They get married only a few weeks later. Yes, knowing Magnus you might think he wants a big wedding with thousands of guests, but he doesn’t. They have a beautiful ceremony with their friends and it’s everything they could have ever wanted. Alec even gets a tattoo the next day, the first one since he lost his runes all those years ago. It’s small. The wedded union rune on his waist. He knows it holds no actual power, but it’s something he thought he could never have. So now that he has true love, has an amazing husband, he wants to have that rune. And then Magnus surprises him by telling the tattoo artist he wants the exact same thing. The look on Alec’s face when Magnus says it can be described as “I never thought I could love him even more than I already do.”.

Alec starts his job a few months after the wedding and the first time a student calls him ‘Mr. Bane’, his heart swells so much he feels like it could jump right out of his chest. It quickly becomes obvious that his students love him and that Alec definitely chose the right career. Suddenly, students who have been failing history for years are getting straight As. At the beginning, the headmaster gets a little suspicious, but then she visits Alec’s class and sees just why the students are suddenly good at a subject they used to hate. Alec is open, and on the very first look you can see that he cares about his students. He doesn’t get angry when they get something wrong, he never tells them they are stupid if they ask the same question five times. When they spend a few minutes talking about their dreams, he tells them he has faith that every single one of them can achieve their’s if they just put the work in. He makes sure every single student who ever enters his classroom knows that their feelings and dreams are valid and important. The atmosphere in Alec’s classroom is so healthy students even get better in other subjects. In short—Alec loves his job and he’s damn good at it too.

So, of course, his old life has to come crashing in at one point. Magnus keeps him updated about everything that happens in the shadow world, so he knows about Valentine resurfacing. He hopes someone actually manages to deal with him for real this time. Someone that’s not him or his husband, because Alec is happy with his life as it is, thank you very much.

When he gets out of class that day, a text from Magnus is waiting on his phone, sent only a few minutes before. It’s a warning that a few shadowhunters have invaded their loft, demanding for Magnus to get back memories for one of them. Alec sighs and mentally punches a wall. Then he texts Magnus, asking for a portal so he can be a supportive husband and protect the shadowhunters from facing the brunt of Magnus’ anger and annoyance. While he’s waiting for the answer, Alec already walks into a small alley not far from the school. Luckily it’s empty, so no one is there to freak out when the portal opens a few seconds later. Alec steps through it without much of a thought. He’s greeted on the other side by his husband sitting at their kitchen table with a martini glass in his hand. Alec can’t see any of the shadowhunters, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t around.

“Hey,” he says, pulling the glass out of Magnus’ hand. “Are you okay?”

Magnus looks up and he looks utterly exhausted. “I’m tired of dealing with their shit, but I’m fine. Do you remember when I told you about taking memories from Jocelyn Fairchild’s daughter?”

Alec nods. It came up a few months back, when they were talking about old missions Alec was on and clients Magnus worked with.

“Yeah, so that daughter has found out she’s a shadowhunter,” Magnus says. “And now she’s dragged two other young ones with her, demanding I get her memories back.”

“But you fed them to a greater demon,” Alec says, frowning. “That’s not worth the risk.”

Magnus throws his hand up in the air. “That’s what I told them! But apparently, they really need those memories back. I’ve got Clary drawing the pentagram in the other room and her friends are waiting in the guest bedroom. I banned them from being near me because they were annoying.”

“Do you want me to look at what they’re doing?” Alec asks.

The look on Magnus’ face is one of utter thankfulness and Alec smiles at it. He presses a kiss to Magnus’ lips and turns to check up on the shadowhunters. It’s strange how it has only taken a few years of being deruned for him to stop thinking of himself as a shadowhunter. But it has happened. Alec doesn’t really see himself as a mundane either, though. Raphael has called him a ‘honorary downworlder’ a few times. But since that discussion usually results in the immortality talk, they avoid it. Not because there isn’t a way to solve that problem, but because Magnus isn’t ready to face the fact that Alec will happily give up his mortality for the chance to stay with him forever. The day he is ready, Alec intends to make sure his husband knows he wants nothing more than to know he’ll never have to leave him. 

He makes his way over to the guest bedroom, sparing a few seconds to take a look into the room Clary Fairchild is currently drawing a pentagram for summoning a greater demon in. The redhead is working in concentration, so Alec decides not to bother her. He only opens the door to the guest room for a second, before pulling it closed again and stumbling back. His eyes grow wide and panic sets in his chest. As fast as he can, he backs away from the room and practically runs back into the kitchen, startling Magnus a little.

“Magnus!” Alec calls as soon as he steps into the kitchen. “We have a problem.”

Magnus looks up at him in confusion. “Are you alright, darling? What’s going on?” he asks, standing up.

“That’s what we’d like to know,” a voice says from behind Alec and he freezes.

Two sets of footsteps come to a stop just a few metres behind him. Magnus has a confused look on his face, looking back and forth between Alec and the two shadowhunters behind him.

“Alexander?” he asks, worry in his voice.

Alec only manages a small shake of his head. Still looking back and forth between them, Magnus’ look of confusion slowly melts into understanding and shock.

“Oh,” he breathes out, clearly making the connection.

“What?” 

The annoyed voice of Isabelle Lightwood rings through the room and Alec lets out a wounded sound. He hasn’t heard that voice in years. He didn’t think he’d ever get to hear it again. But she’s here, just behind him. And so is Jace. The man who used to be his parabatai. The person who used to have half of his soul. Alec can’t bring himself to turn around. He finds himself completely and utterly unprepared to face them.

Magnus, the absolute sweetheart he is, gently takes Alec’s hands and guides him to a chair. “You should sit down,” he says, then turns to Jace and Izzy. “I think there need to be a few explanations. You will get them, but you will have to promise not to attack anyone, understood?”

There’s a short silence and then Jace speaks up. “As long as he’s not Valentine, we don’t care.”

Izzy is quick to agree. Alec can see Magnus nod and gesture for them to sit down at the table too. He lets his head hang down, his hair obscuring part of his face. He’s grown it out a bit since he met Magnus, but it’s still not long. It comes to barely over his ears, and it’s terribly curly now that he doesn’t have to wash it every day because he got demon ichor on it. His appearance has generally changed quite a bit in the last few years. He no longer wears the same five black sweaters, but instead various shirts of different styles and colours. A surprising amount of his wardrobe is rainbow coloured and Alec loves to annoy the homophobes by wearing shirts with rainbow flags to work. He’s still muscular—working out every single day for over ten years leaves a habit—but not quite as much as he was during his shadowhunting days. The most noticeable change in his appearance is his posture. He used to practically hide in his clothes, afraid to do something people would disapprove of. But he’s learned how to love himself, and the way he walks shows that. He’s gained so much confidence over the years.

Still, his siblings sitting on both of his sides, Alec feels that anxiety creeping back in. Just when it’s about to get too much, he feels Magnus’ magic reaching out to him. Alec allows it to curse through his body and immediately relaxes into the feeling. That’s something they found out after five months of dating. Magnus’ magic seems to like Alec (maybe because he’s the first person Magnus loves that fully accepts his magic). And he’s even able to use it sometimes, even if only for small things. But it does come in handy.

The silence is broken by Isabelle. “I believe we were promised an explanation?” she says, turning her head to look at Alec. 

Jace does the same. Taking a deep breath, Alec nods. And they also deserve one. Of course it’s not his fault they didn’t know, but the point still stands that they have wrongly thought their brother died years ago. And he’s going to change that now, even if he was forbidden from ever doing so.

“You were,” Alec says, pushing his hair out of his face and looking up at his sister.

It takes her a second, but then she’s throwing her hand in front of her mouth and choking back a sob. Alec allows himself to smile a little bit. Jace looks just as shocked, his mouth hanging open and eyes scanning him, not believing what he’s seeing.

“Hi,” Alec says, because he doesn’t know what else to say to them.

Izzy openly lets out a sob, lowering her hand. There are tears in her eyes.

“Alec?” she asks, voice shaky.

He nods. “Yeah.”

“No,” Jace says from the other side of the table. “You’re dead. I felt you die!”

Alec winces at the memory of that day. “What you felt was my parabatai rune being removed,” he says, swallowing down the memory of the pain. “The clave had me deruned that day. I’m sorry you had to think I died, but they didn’t allow me to tell you the truth.”

“But…” Izzy looks at him in horror. “Why?”

Alec hesitates, but luckily Magnus fills in for him. “He saved a young warlock’s life.”

Both Izzy and Jace look even more shocked at that, so Alec elaborates. “She’d just gotten her powers and she wasn’t in control. She accidentally killed someone because she was scared. The clave told me to kill her. I brought her to a warlock so that she could be taught control instead. The clave didn’t like it, so here we are.”

“You got punished for doing the right thing?” Jace asks, bewildered.

Alec shrugs. “The clave isn’t as perfect as many think.”

Izzy takes his hand. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” she says. Then, “Maybe we could draw a few runes for you?”

“No!” Alec almost shouts, eyes wide, ripping his hand away from Izzy.

“Don’t you want your runes back?” Izzy asks, sounding incredibly sad.

Alec shakes his head. “No. I’m happy with my life. I don’t need to get back into hunting demons. My life right now is better than it ever was back at the institute.”

He sees both his siblings flinch at that. “Not like that. You know I love you. But I wasn’t happy in the institute. There was so much pressure to be exactly the person mom and dad wanted me to be. And, well, I’m not. I didn’t agree with what the clave wanted to do and I didn’t want the future I was expected to have. Let’s face it, I would have been forced into a political marriage at one point. And no one would have cared that I didn’t love the woman they chose or that I’m gay. I’m happy now.” He smiles at Magnus. “I have this amazing husband who I love more than anything in this world, I have friends who like me because of my personality and not because I’m good at killing demons and I have a wonderful job that makes me feel like I’m actually changing some kids’ lives for the better. I’m living a life I got to choose on my own and I won’t give it up for anything.”

He can almost see the gears turning in Jace’s head while Izzy is already at the point where she’s smiling again. She jumps up and pulls him into a hug. 

“I’m happy for you, Alec,” she whispers into his shoulder. 

Alec wraps his hands around his sister’s back, hugging her back just as tightly as she is hugging him. A few moments later, Jace joins the hug, clearly having finished processing what Alec just told them.

“Me too,” he says. “I just wish we could have been there for you, brother.”

And then, a few seconds after that, Jace takes one arm away from Alec and spreads it out. “Oh, come on,” he says, looking at Magnus. “If you’re my brother in law, you might as well join the group hug.”

With that he pulls Magnus into the hug. He’s startled at first, but then one of Alec’s hands lands on his back and he relaxes, making peace with the fact that he’s now part of the crazy mess that is the Lightwood family. Once they’re done with the hug, they all settle down in the living room, Alec and Magnus squeezing onto the love-seat together despite there being plenty of room for them to sit more comfortably. (Yes, they are THAT couple.)

“So,” Izzy says, looking at her brother. “A teacher, huh? How’s that going?”

Alec smiles. “It’s going amazing. Those kids are really good ones and I love seeing them start to appreciate history. And they seem to like me too, which is a plus.”

Magnus snorts. “Like you? Alexander, those kids adore you. You’re the best thing that ever happened to them.”

Alec blushes. “Oh, shut up.”

Jace laughs at that (and oh, fuck, he missed his brother’s laugh). “But isn’t it a little strange to have a room of kids calling you ‘Mr. Lightwood’ all day long?”

“Well, they don’t,” Alec says. “They call me ‘Mr. Bane’. I took Magnus’ name when we got married. And it’s not strange at all, actually. I mean, yeah, it was at first, but you do get used to it at some point. I’ve been doing this for a while now. It’s become normal.”

“I still can’t believe you’re alive,” Izzy says, a sense of wonder in her voice.

Alec laughs. “Well, I am, so you’ll just have to get used to it.”

It’s at that point that Clary walks into the room. Her gaze sweeps over the four of them, going over Alec at first, then snapping back. She frowns, no doubt wondering if she overlooked him earlier.

“Uh,” she says. “What did I miss?”

“Clary!” Jace exclaims and his whole face lights up.

Well, Alec thinks, his brother is most definitely in love. He waves at Clary with a smile. 

“Hi,” he says. “I’m Alec.”

“Our brother,” Izzy adds.

Clary looks even more confused at that. “But you said your brother died on a mission. Like, years ago.”

Alec shrugs. “I got deruned and I wasn’t allowed to tell my family the truth. So they were told I died.”

“That can happen?” Clary asks, eyes going incredibly wide. “What did you do?”

“Actively saved a warlock the clave wanted dead,” Alec says, maybe a little too cheerful. Sue him, he deserves to have a little fun, even if it’s at the expense of Jace’s new girlfriend. “But I’m fine now, honestly. My life got so much better since then. I mean, look at him—” He nods at Magnus. “—Like, damn. And that’s my husband.”

Magnus chuckles. “You’re tired, aren’t you?”

Alec almost never starts swearing in front of people he doesn’t know well. Except for when he’s tired. He shrugs.

“I told you not to finish grading those papers,” Magnus says, sighing.

Alec cuddles into him. “Well, my students were really fucking happy I did, so your argument loses its value.”

“I think I can deal with that.” Magnus threads his fingers into Alec’s hair, playing with it. Then, he turns his attention back to the shadowhunters in the room. “So, did you finish the pentagram, biscuit?”

Clary nods. “Yeah, I did. Does that mean we can get my memories now?”

“We can. But first I need to get my husband to bed,” Magnus says, looking at Alec, who has managed to fall asleep in the few seconds it has been since he last said something. It’s a gift.

Magnus picks him up, bridal style. He’s stronger than he looks, so it’s not at all hard for him. People tend to assume Magnus is the weak one in the relationship, but he beats Alec in about half their sparring sessions. It’s not his fault his sparkly shirts tend to hide his muscles. When he’s put Alec down in their bed and changed his clothes with his magic, he returns to the shadowhunters.

“So,” he says, clapping his hands. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me someone got the reference in the title (and that of the first part of the series)
> 
> You can scream at me on tumblr: @the-immortal-dream


End file.
